On the Borders of Dartmoor 131 



however, my host was keen, and so was I. 

 We therefore proceeded at our best pace to 

 do justice to the hospitality of my hostess, in 

 order to lay in a good foundation for the hard 

 day's work ahead of us. Having sent round 

 word to Charles, the keeper, that we were 

 ready, and to bring on Sam and Don, a brace 

 of rare good-looking English setters the 

 former a first-season puppy and the latter a 

 third -season dog we started, and in due 

 course reached our beat. 



The first field we tried a stubble on the 

 edge of the moor was blank, as was a 

 rough grass field adjoining. Our idea was 

 to beat all the cultivated ground under the 

 lee or sheltered side of a big moorland 

 stretch, which was crowned by a grand and 

 venerable-looking tor, and then work back 

 over the moor itself. The third field we 

 entered was a large swede turnip-field, and 

 hardly had the dogs commenced to range 



